FCC Rejects Wireless Providers Bid for Extra Lifeline Payments

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2025 – A four year long dispute over a single day of eligibility under a pandemic-era benefits waiver at the Federal Communications Commission came to an end Wednesday.

The FCC rejected an appeal from four wireless providers who had sought an additional month of federal reimbursement under Lifeline for subscribers who were in their “non-usage cure” period. The grace period required under Lifeline rules gives inactive customers 15 days to show some use before being de-enrolled for non-use.

FCC commissioners voted to affirm an earlier bureau decision finding that the Lifeline usage waiver adopted during the pandemic expired on April 30, 2021. Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Easy Wireless, and i-wireless had argued that the waiver extended through May 1, 2021, a reading that would have triggered a full additional month of federal support.

In a statement, Chairman Brendan Carr said the petitioners were attempting to “exploit the flexibility the Commission provided during the pendency of the COVID-19 pandemic after the need for leniency had passed.” The extra month of support would have amounted to “millions of dollars” in federal subsidies for unused service, he said.

The Lifeline non-usage rule was first suspended in March 2020, when the FCC temporarily waived de-enrollment requirements to prevent low-income households from losing connectivity during the pandemic. Providers cannot typically claim reimbursement for those customers unless the subscriber resumes use during that period. 

Assist, Boomerang, Easy, and i-wireless submitted revised April 2021 reimbursement claims in April 2022, seeking to include subscribers who were in non-usage cure periods as of May 1, 2021. 

USAC rejected the revisions in May 2022, prompting an appeal that USAC denied in November 2023. The providers then appealed to the Wireline Competition Bureau, which rejected their request in August 2024. The full FCC’s order this week denies the carriers’ final application for review.

“Today’s decision protects the Lifeline program from abuse by refusing to extend a COVID-era waiver that would allow Lifeline providers to obtain additional federal subsidies for services that their subscribers were not using,” Carr said.